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Project
C8:
The standardization of judicial formalities and ceremonial etiquettes through Common Decrees (decreta communia)
| Abstract |
The project studies the way in which judicial formalities and ceremonial etiquettes were standardized in Early Modern and early 19th century civil procedure law. Main subject of the studies are norms enacted by the courts themselves, so-called Common Decrees. They complemented on the one hand the code of procedure, but created at the same time also some sort of special right, comparable to the police ordinances of the Holy Roman Empire, to regulate the ranking and conduct of the different parties of a procedure comprehensively in- and outside the court. The formalities prescribed by rules will be studied as well as the ceremonial etiquette before the supreme courts of the Holy Roman Empire and the Hanoverian territorial courts. This will permit conclusions about similarities, but also specific differences of ceremonial etiquette before the courts of the different levels of jurisdiction. Most notably, it will show the limits of symbolic communication in a court, for on the basis of the different process principles it will be specifically asked to what degree the extent of ceremonial and representation depended on the degree of verbal and written communication between the parties involved.
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